Read Online Reunion by Karen Kingsbury - Free Book Online Page A

down the hilly path to their table. It was the spot where the Baxters had their family picnic every August, the place where he and Ashley had stayed late one night talking about her time in Paris, the de tails she’d never shared with anyone else.
    Damp leaves lay across the table’s surface. Landon brushed them off, climbed up, and sat on the tabletop facing the shore, his feet on the bench. The lake was choppy, a cool breeze play ing across the top of the water. Rain was forecast for the middle of the week, but the afternoon sky was crystal clear, a brilliant blue that splashed light through the still-bare trees and made the whitecaps on the lake shine like so many diamonds.
    Would life always be like this with Ashley? Each doctor’s ap pointment a stoplight of sorts, flashing red until another test or an experimental drug might give them a green light and allow them to journey on together until the next stop?
    Landon stared at the sky and tried to see beyond it. This was what Ashley had tried to protect him from, the uncertainty that came with her diagnosis. He gritted his teeth and dug his elbows into his knees. All the more reason why he’d be strong for her to day, whatever the news. So what if their lives were dotted with a dozen doctor’s appointments every year? At least they had today.
    Hearing a car in the lot behind him, he turned around. After a minute, Ashley appeared. Dressed in thin cotton sweatpants and a bulky sweater, she spotted him and stopped. Then a smile ap peared, first in her eyes and then across her face.
    “Landon!” She ran lightly down the path until she was standing in front of him, breathless, her eyes dancing.
    For the first time since her phone call Landon considered an outlandish idea.
    What if the news hadn’t been bad or neutral? What if the news had been good? He gave a quiet laugh. “What ever the doctor said, I didn’t think you’d run down the hill laughing.”
    She gripped his shoulders and searched his eyes. “Landon, the test was negative.”
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    He felt his face go blank. “What test?”
    Her smile faded and she took a step closer. “I don’t have HIV. The doctor explained the whole thing to me. They…” Tears filled her eyes and spilled onto her cheeks.
    Landon’s heart thudded hard against his ribs. What had she just said? She didn’t have HIV? He brushed his fingertips beneath her eyes and pushed her tears up along her cheekbones intoher hair. She didn’t have HIV? Did that mean she had full blown AIDS, or something different? It couldn’t possibly mean she was.., his thoughts jumbled and he couldn’t make sense of don’tu derstand.”
    It s true, Landon. She sniffed anSmade a sound that was mostly laugh. “The other tests—botln of themwwere false positives. I’m not infected. The doctor explained everything. I guess it happens a lot—false positives.” She eased her hands along his arms. “I’m not sick; I’m not going to get sick.” A sob escaped and she moved closer, hugging him, holding on to him. “I’m free, Landon. We’re both free!”
    The truth worked its way through him, and he held her so he would somehow believe he wasn’t dreaming. This was really happening, wasn’t it?
    Ashley was standing in front of him telling him the entire situation with HIV was behind them, right? He drew back enough to see her eyes, to search them and know for sure she was being straight with him, that there wasn’t some part of the story she was leaving out.
    “You mean it, Ash? That’s what the doctortold you?”
    “Yes.” She pulled away, threw her head back, tossed her arms straight up, and did a victory shout. “Yes… yes.., yes! Thank God!” Then she rushed into his arms again.
    “You know what this means?”
    “Yes.” She did a series of small jumps and clung tight to him again.
    “Everything’s going to be okay!”
    ” “Not that.” Landon nuzzled his face against hers. “It means we haveto set
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    REUNION
    “A date! Of